NobFest 2012: Nothing like the first time

March Madness doesn’t just apply to college basketball — it’s a fitting description of the month in music, too. Every part-time publicist, backyard blogger and buzz band descends on Austin for South By Southwest. Peripheral Southern festivals like Bro Fest, Foburg Fest, Savannah Stopover Fest and Orlando’s Orange You Glad Fest feed off the multitude of bands passing through the region. St. Augustine’s Harvest of Hope Fest did just that in 2009 and 2010, also giving Florida’s deep pool of homegrown rock ‘n’ roll talent reason to pass through town.

This weekend’s inaugural NobFest is much smaller than those listed above, even though it runs Friday, March 22 through Sunday, March 25 — with a Thursday Pre-Fest acoustic show, no less — at Shanghai Nobby’s on Anastasia Island. But any hardcore music fan will tell you that the more grassroots a festival is, the better— and the first year is always the best. So you do not want to miss your chance to see 36 mostly punk, garage rock, psychedelic and country bands from across Florida and the Southeast, Nobby’s owner Dave Wernicke says.

“We’ve definitely never done anything of this magnitude,” said Wernicke, whose family has owned Nobby’s since 1985. “We’ve had a lot live music here over the last four years, but in 2011 we closed down, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to get the money back together to reopen. Once we did, I had the idea to do the NobFest benefit. I got my five guys to book a really good lineup, and all the bands paid it forward in full force by donating their time to be play.”

Those five guys are Jacob Hamilton, Andrew Virga, Charlie Solana, Nick Haneman and Matt Pius, who share membership in close to 15 bands among them. They also book a good chunk of the shows at Nobby’s that succeed for three simple reasons: hard rock, cold beer and affordable prices.

“Shows at Nobby’s are always under $10, and usually only $5,” Hamilton said.

NobFest prices increase slightly but are more than manageable: $22 for a three-day pass, $6 for Friday, and $10 for Saturday or Sunday. But like always at Nobby’s, 100 percent of the door money goes to the bands.

“Every band that plays at NobFest will get gas money home or wherever their next stop is,” Hamilton said. “Nobby’s doesn’t usually get anything, so that’s the whole idea — let’s help them out for helping us for so long.”

Haneman, whose one-man show Commoditie Booking has brought scores of great punk and garage rock shows to town over the last year, says Nobby’s provides a perfect alternative to bigger venues — for both local and national bands.

“There’s really no other venue in town if a touring band wants to play something smaller than Cafe Eleven,” he said. “And Dave’s been so cool let us have shows that seem too big there. You’re not going to see a band like The Queers in a venue that small anywhere else.”

A large part of the NobFest schedule is made up of local bands that Hamilton, Virga, Solana, Haneman and Pius all belong to, with each man also booking another four or five from around Florida and splitting up other duties like working the door, manning the sound or keeping the whole shebang organized.

“Even though it’s a lot of work, you’re having fun with your friends,” said Virga, who’s also manning the maddening and forever changing festival schedule. “But you’re having fun with your friends, so it’s well worth the effort.”

In addition to all the Florida bands, Virga and Hamilton both cited Chattanooga, Tenn.’s, Dark Rides as an out-of-state highlight.

“They’re like a supergroup in the small punk community,” Hamilton said. “And they never leave Chattanooga, so when they mentioned they wanted to play here, we wanted to make a big deal out of it.”

The feeling will most likely be reciprocal, because Wernicke says he loves going above and beyond for the bands that play at his bar.

“I used to play in bands,” Wernicke said, “and no matter what you made at the door, the bars would pay you $100 and give you a $120 bar tab. I swore I’d never do that at Nobby’s, so in addition to the door I always give my musicians free beer and whiskey.”

The four other guys interviewed for this story raved about Wernicke in a slightly different way: “He’s definitely a good dude.”

Amazingly, that’s not the only reason Nobby’s maintains a revered spot in St. Augustine’s music heart.

“Nobby’s is so crucial,” Hamilton said. “For local bands that have a spot to play, for our friends we can help out when they tour, for St. Augustine residents who work in the service industry and can go to a show that doesn’t start until 10. It’s perfect.”

Need any more reasons to attend NobFest this weekend? How about two food trucks: Sprockets on Friday and Mother Fletcher’s on Saturday and Sunday? Grilled hamburgers and hot dogs slow-cooked in beer, the most underrated delicacy in the South? A dunk tank where Wernicke said he hopes to see NobFest co-organizer Pius “in there a whole lot”? (You’ve been warned, Matt.) Thirty-six bands selling one-of-a-kind DIY merch and some of the best original tunes in the country?

If you’re like me and you’re unfortunately going to miss the inaugural NobFest, take heart: Everyone involved believes it’ll be back again with a vengeance.

“We only started doing this one in late January,” said co-organizer Solana, who’ll be fronting The Resonantors and Teenage Lobotomy on Friday night. “We should have started publicizing it a few months before. But there’s going to be a lot of people at Nobby’s; we've gotta make sure the cops don’t shut it down. And if everything goes well, we’ll definitely be doing it again next year.”

“Things change so much in a month, much less a year,” added Virga, who’ll perform this weekend solo and with The Cougs, Stiff Bindles and The Rivernecks. “But no matter who’s setting this stuff up, Nobby’s will continue to thrive as an outlet for people to play original music in St. Augustine.”

“It’s going to be — and always has been at Nobby’s — like a huge house party for me,” marveled Wernicke, who lives next door to the bar. “All these bands are playing in my living room! I don’t care what kind of crowd they bring, from 30 people to 130 people, because it’s all about hearing good, new music from young, excited musicians. One of these bands could be the next Rolling Stones, you know?” Laughing, he finishes, “I definitely want NobFest to be a yearly event — hopefully soon I’ll have to rent out the Amphitheatre, there’ll be so many bands playing.”

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Check out Drift’s loaded NobFest program posting over the next couple of days, and hit up the NobFest Facebook event page for more info!